Rafael Caro Quintero, a suspected Mexican drug lord, was arrested on July 15 for allegedly masterminding the 1985 murder of Kiki Camarena, a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. According to the BBC, Rafael Caro Quintero, 69, was one of the founders of the Guadalajara cartel, which controlled the illegal drug trade along the US border with Mexico for decades until its recent collapse.
Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested for the death of Enrique Camerena, who was investigating cartel operations, in 1985. Quintero was released in 2013 when a Mexican court reduced his 40-year sentence by 12 years. Although Mexico’s Supreme Court eventually overturned the ruling, it was too late because Quintero was already a fugitive and had apparently restarted his drug-trafficking operations while in hiding.
SEMAR video of Rafael Caro Quintero being taken into custody today by Mexican marines. pic.twitter.com/NjLslt6MJM
— Keegan Hamilton (@keegan_hamilton) July 15, 2022
The career of drug dealer Rafael Caro Quintero
Rafael Caro Quintero was born in Sinaloa, Mexico, to farmer parents. After his father’s death in 1964, he, 14, did various menial jobs to support his family. Quintero apparently began growing and selling marijuana as a young man, according to CNN Mexico. Within five years, his fortune reportedly skyrocketed, making him a recognized figure in the Mexican underworld.
Quintero allegedly founded the Guadalajara cartel with his criminal colleagues in the late 1970s after gaining sufficient authority among drug dealers. According to the Los Angeles Times, the group was a “pioneer” in the Mexican drug trade, offering a scale and complexity never seen before. Quintero was wanted by US authorities not only for alleged drug trafficking but also for the deaths of at least three US citizens.
According to El Economista, Quintero is accused of ordering his subordinates to capture and torture two Americans who inadvertently walked into a cartel party in Guadalajara in January 1985. Authorities in the United States believe Quintero mistook them for undercover DEA agents. Two Americans, writer John Clay Walker and dental student Albert Radelat, were kidnapped and tortured for a long time. Radelat was believed to be buried alive.
Rafael Caro Quintero now faces extradition to the United States. Although Quintero’s power in the drug trade has faded, authorities say the arrest is significant because it shows that criminals will face consequences no matter what. Quintero’s arrest, on the other hand, was the result of the high-profile killing of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a problem for the cartel during the 1980s. Camarena, like Walker and Radelat, was believed to have been tortured and interrogated for a long time.
Categories: Entertaintment
Source: HIS Education